At the conclusion of the FERET Program in 1997, face recognition technology was primarily found in prototype systems in universities and research labs. By 2000, systems were available on the commercial market. FRVT 2000 evaluated the capabilities of these commercial systems. FRVT 2000 was sponsored by:

• Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
• DoD Counterdrug Technology Development Program Office
• National Institute of Justice (NIJ)

FRVT 2000 was designed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and was administered by NAVSEA Crane. Key FRVT 2000 personnel included:

• Patrick Grother
• Michael  Bone
• Duane Blackburn
• Dr. P. Jonathon Phillips  

The FRVT 2000 test design was based on the FERET evaluations and the evaluation methodology philosophy articulated by Dr. Phillips.  This philosophy is outlined in An Introduction to Evaluating Biometric Systems [Download here].

FRVT 2000 consisted of two components: the Recognition Performance Test and the Product Usability Test. The Recognition Performance Test was a technology evaluation. The goal of the Recognition Performance Test was to compare competing techniques for performing facial recognition. All systems were tested on a standardized database. The standard database ensured all systems were evaluated using the same images, which allowed for comparison of the core face recognition technology. The product usability test examined system properties for performing access control.